Tell UW-Madison to Stop Cruel Taser Experiments on Pigs!

University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor John Webster is conducting lethal experiments in which live pigs are electrocuted in order to satisfy claims that Tasers are safe.

Using a $500,000 taxpayer-funded grant provided by the U.S. Department of Justice, Webster attaches electrodes directly to the pigs' skin and implants catheters near their hearts to measure the effects of Taser shocks. He had also expressed a desire to dose the pigs with cocaine and use a "Super-Taser" device to induce heart arrhythmia, but to date he does not have a grant for this.

What makes the experiment even more atrocious is that similar Taser studies have been conducted on pigs, dogs, and bovines on other occasions since 1989. Webster has also stated that he believes Tasers are safe to use on people, negating any claim that this could be an unbiased study.

Tasers are already widely used, and their relative safety can be easily measured using human data. If the weapon manufacturer and law-enforcement agencies were to take responsibility and accept a sensible protocol of follow-up medical assessment for Taser victims, they could gain relevant information. They could supplement this information with the medical histories and autopsy reports of the nearly 150 people in North America who have died after being shot with Tasers.

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